Monday, April 23, 2007

Perspective: Need Outstrips Beds for Homeless Vets

Left: A U.S. Navy veteran who has moved from city to city and slept in shelters or on the street since returning from Iraq

SAN DIEGO (March 31) - Now that warmer weather is arriving, the giant tent that was a winter home for 150 veterans is being packed away.

"For most of us, it's back on the streets," says Marvin Britton, a former military policeman who's been crisscrossing the country since leaving the Army in 1971 following three combat tours in Vietnam.

The battered tent, pitched on a Navy parking lot, is reflective of a problem that almost certainly will worsen as more troops come home from Iraq and Afghanistan and leave active duty - there just aren't enough beds for vets who end up homeless.